Comments on: How Bandwidth Caps Hurt Your Mac & What Apple Can Do About Ithttps://gigaom.com/2009/06/29/how-bandwidth-caps-hurt-your-mac-what-apple-can-do-about-it/
The industry leader in emerging technology researchTue, 22 Aug 2017 10:16:14 +0000hourly1By: davidrobertlewishttps://gigaom.com/2009/06/29/how-bandwidth-caps-hurt-your-mac-what-apple-can-do-about-it/#comment-349392
Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:16:57 +0000http://theappleblog.com/?p=26691#comment-349392I believe there is a way to defeat the cap by changing the MAC address of the machine/router, spoofing IP and playing with ARP. I managed to get extra gigs this month, but was then blocked. Still searching for the better method.
]]>By: DariePeredilehttps://gigaom.com/2009/06/29/how-bandwidth-caps-hurt-your-mac-what-apple-can-do-about-it/#comment-349391
Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:10:24 +0000http://theappleblog.com/?p=26691#comment-349391I http://watchtvonline1.com – watch tv onlinealot, lol some of my favorites are youtube. What are places
can I watch tv online.

Is it legal for me to have explained here?, and bank accounts? How to start? Can I move my existing business offshore

]]>By: infonollningenhttps://gigaom.com/2009/06/29/how-bandwidth-caps-hurt-your-mac-what-apple-can-do-about-it/#comment-349389
Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:19:54 +0000http://theappleblog.com/?p=26691#comment-349389Wow… i used 4gig (combined up/down) in two days with my iPhone tethered… 3gig in a month!? Thats just sick.
Here in Sweden I’ve got 10/2 mbit for around 35 bucks a month. No cap, no nothing. Depending on where you live you can get 100/100mbit for around 30 bucks, and ofc no capping…

USA is a sick country :D

]]>By: AScotthttps://gigaom.com/2009/06/29/how-bandwidth-caps-hurt-your-mac-what-apple-can-do-about-it/#comment-349388
Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:42:20 +0000http://theappleblog.com/?p=26691#comment-349388There’s also the problem with their $10 monthly “cable transport fee” if you don’t sign up for an additional T.V. package. I asked the tech about it, and he said that it’s to pay for them coming out to block out the remaining channels. The one time they have to, and I pay for it every month.
B.S.
]]>By: Phillip Dampierhttps://gigaom.com/2009/06/29/how-bandwidth-caps-hurt-your-mac-what-apple-can-do-about-it/#comment-349387
Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:53:43 +0000http://theappleblog.com/?p=26691#comment-349387The term “capped” refers to the maximum amount of usage you can have at that price point. Internet Overcharging is a far better, and more accurate term, because it describes the pricing model and what happens when you exceed their arbitrary “cap.”

A $2.00/GB overlimit fee is outrageous. If you plan to go over, you can buy one of their “bandwidth packs” in pre-set increments, but that pre-supposes you:

a) know you are going to go over before you do;
b) will consume all of that extra pack to avoid letting any go to waste from being unconsumed.

Anyway you look at it, that sunflower is going to cost you more than a dozen roses in other communities.

Lawrence Free-net is a wi-fi proposition at this point, which has been stuck with older technology and signal issues. It’s not really a comparable competitor in any meaningful way, at least until it can upgrade its technology. AT&T is currently deploying DSL in Lawrence, which is always dependent on distance from the central switching office (or remote equipment nearby).

If you sit around and read e-mail and look at web pages and do little more, any plan from any provider is going to be fine. If you start getting interested in transferring files or watching a lot of online video, Sunflower may be faster, but it’s a whole lot more restrictive and potentially obscenely expensive.

Comcast does not throttle speeds — they were slapped by the FCC for trying a few years ago. They have a 250GB maximum usage limit, and informally tell customers if they want more than that, buy a second account. Compared to the egregious pricing of Sunflower, that’s online nirvana.

I am sure any company will be friendly and responsive to a request to add gigabyte packs to your account, because they aren’t free. That’s money in their pocket.

Should AT&T bring U-verse to Lawrence, they’ll mow down the sunflower at current pricing and terms.

]]>By: doublesixhttps://gigaom.com/2009/06/29/how-bandwidth-caps-hurt-your-mac-what-apple-can-do-about-it/#comment-349386
Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:25:40 +0000http://theappleblog.com/?p=26691#comment-349386Try living in South Africa. Telkom is a fixed line/DSL monopoly. I’ve lived with 3 gig cap for years. Telkom are asking the independent telecommunications authority for all-round increases â€“ but not DSL. Surprise. The cap is being increased from 3 to 5 gig at no extra charge on August 1. South Africa does not yet have access to the iTunes store so I am spared that. But upgrades are costly. Today, I upgraded my old G4 466 with a bunch of Mac upgrades, Quicktime, Security, iTunes etc. Took hours to download more than 4 gig. But, hey, its the last day of the month. Clean slate again tomorrow/
]]>By: Ehrenhttps://gigaom.com/2009/06/29/how-bandwidth-caps-hurt-your-mac-what-apple-can-do-about-it/#comment-349385
Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:46:20 +0000http://theappleblog.com/?p=26691#comment-349385I live in Lawrence too. The cable company here is quite restrictive and pricey even though they say that you get more. When you look at it, you get more of thing you don’t need and less of things you do. So I switched to ATT DSL where I have the same speed they offer with no bandwidth limit. It’s been so good to me and my Mac!
]]>By: Ian Lhttps://gigaom.com/2009/06/29/how-bandwidth-caps-hurt-your-mac-what-apple-can-do-about-it/#comment-349384
Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:48:46 +0000http://theappleblog.com/?p=26691#comment-349384Here’s my perspective, from two different situations…

#1: Golde, CO
Comcast is what everyone uses. They’re relatively fast, reliable, a bit expensive and have a reasonable (250GB) cap. The competition is Qwest, significantly slower, cheaper and uncapped. Qwest may or may not give advertised speeds (or 85% of advertised speeds) depending on system loading; fortunately Comcast gives ’em all the time. So while I’d like to do online backup (which would probably put me over my 250GB limit…I do my BitTorrent elsewhere) I’d much rather have 2 Mbit of upload speed vs. 700k, so I stick with Comcast. I recommended Qwest to friends who use BitTorrent and they’re fine with it.

#2 – Fredericksburg, TX
Most places can’t get DSL, and the places that can have one tier – 1.5/512 for $50 per month, minus 15% on speed due to ATM/etc. overhead. So if you’re in town and aren’t a cost-conscious business (cable business rates are e-freaking-xspensive) then you get Time Warner Cable. At the moment, speeds and pricing are decent (768/128 download/upload for $20, 5/384 for $35, 7/512 for $40, 15/2 for $5, top two tiers have download PowerBoost) however they could cap usage at any time and people would have nowhere to go. The only alternatives have lower caps than TWC has proposed (40GB on the top tier). The alternatives are as follows: local overloaded wireless rovider with 25 or 35 GB caps and low speeds, cellular broadband with decent speeds but 5GB caps, satellite internet with high latency, low speeds and caps topping out under 25GB.

Now I’m as much against disgustingly low bandwidth caps as the next guy, but Lawrence does have competition that’s not capped (AT&T DSL) and SFB’s overages, when purchased in blocks, aren’t too ridiculous (50Â¢ per GB when you buy a $25 addon).

Plus, 3GB is more than enough for operating system updates and such, plus light web surfing and e-mail, which that tier is made for. 15GB is enough for some more stuff. 50GB can even do online video in some capacity, etc. Though you have to remember that online video is a competitor to SFB’s cable TV service, so it’s in their interest to make all online video pay-per-view in some way or other.

As a bit of light at the end of the tunnel, AT&T will eventually launch U-Verse in most of their areas. Granted, they’ve tested caps as well, but AT&T’s caps top out at 150GB on U-Verse tiers, which is greatly preferable to 50GB on SUnflower Broadband. AT&T also has some decent speed tiers on U-Verse (12/1.5 Mbit/s or 18/1.5 iif you want to pay a little extra).

In short, if you have decent-speed uncapped competition and don’t like SUnflower Broadband’s caps, use the competition.

]]>By: Lizhttps://gigaom.com/2009/06/29/how-bandwidth-caps-hurt-your-mac-what-apple-can-do-about-it/#comment-349383
Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:07:15 +0000http://theappleblog.com/?p=26691#comment-349383I’m in Lawrence too, and I just switched from SFB to DSL to avoid the caps.